i'm afraid
by monday's dusk girl
Summary: Leaf is all alone. Her family is sick, their house is in quarantine. She knows something about this sickness, but nobody will belive her. There is a person who can help. But is Leaf herself safe?( "Mister Monday" fanfic)
1. Never Steal Palmtops

This is a "Mister Monday" fanfic. If you didn't read it, you can probably still understand this, because, sooner or later, I will explain everything. At least the stuff that deals with Leaf, whom this fanfic is about.   
  
In the book, Arthur is in school when he gets the printout of Leaf's E-mail from Allie. So we never know what exactly is happening to Leaf. That's why I'm writing this fanfic. I am not going to touch the subject of Arthur, or the whole House thing. There will be some stuff about Mister Monday thought.   
  
Enjoy!  
  
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Leaf brushed an annoying braid of her dyed-white hair of her face and looked around again. The horizon was clear. Nobody in the living room.   
  
She didn't really expected to see anyone. It was only fifteen minutes short of   
  
6 AM, and the docs got up at about seven. But Leaf's guilty conscience wouldn't let her just forget that the orange palmtop she held in her hand was STOLEN. The girl kept thinking that there was somebody behind her, who had seen the crime and would take the palmtop away, before she could use it.   
  
Leaf shook her white head, trying to get those stupid thoughts out of her mind. She needed to focus on her current mission- and that was to find a save place and to send an E-mail to Arthur.   
  
Arthur. He was probably the only one who could help her now. That was just a guess, but it could be supported by a hell lot of evidence. There had been a lot of weird stuff happening, the kind that she would of never believed was real, if she didn't have Ed's and Arthur's words to rely back on. And all the weird stuff seemed to be connected to that boy in some way. Like her family getting sick. He could figure everything out. She hoped.   
  
Leaf's eyes fell on the small gap between the two arm-chairs. It was really small, but she was skinny and could fit in there for sure. So the girl tiptoed over to the arm-chairs. Only then she realized that if she got into the gap, her back or front would be facing the stairs- and that's were the docs will be coming from. Last thing Leaf needed was not to be caught with a stolen palmtop, but to be caught sending an E-mail to someone. The government had cut of all of their communications , and they will not be happy to see her still trying to tell someone something.   
  
Leaf sighted and picked up a cream-colored blanked. Then, not without some squeezing, she got into the gap, and covered herself with that blanked. Whoever would come into the room would just see some blanked between the chairs, hardly distinctive in the dim, early-morning light.  
  
The girl sat for a while, afraid to even breath. But the room seemed silent, so she opened up the orange palmtop, with a huge, black Q on it. Q for quarantine.   
  
Leaf tried to ignore the Q and started thinking about who should she send then E-mail. Arthur himself would be the best choice, but that proved impossible, since she didn't know his E-mail. A couple other friends and been ruled out too, as "too nosy" (nobody but Arthur should be knowing what's happening), "to forgetful" (Arthur MUST get this E-mail as soon as possible!), and "only checks her E-mail every Sunday" (It was Monday! Arthur HAD to get it today).  
  
Suddenly she remembered Allie. Leaf slapped her forehead- how could she have forgotten Allie!!! That pink-haired girl was one of Leaf's best friends. Add the fact that she wouldn't read something not addressed to her, that she was very responsible, and that she checked her mail every morning before school - Allie was just the right person. Leaf could trust her.  
  
So the girl nervously brushed a braid of white hair of her eyes, and started typing.   
  
To: pinkhead55@tepidmail.com  
  
Hi Allie  
  
This is me, Leaf. can u pass this message to arthur penhaligon? boy who flaked on the run last Monday? kind of thin + pale, about ed's height hair like gary krag v. Important he gets this. gotta run. thanx.   
  
Leaf  
  
hi art  
  
sorry we didn't c u at the hospital . ed got sick tues. nite, then mom + dad did + aunt mango (not real name). i'm not sick, tho our house is quarantine. many doctors cops all over the place, in biohazard suitz, v. scary pigface. they think new flu and shots DON'T WORK. no one really, really sick yet but when I go near ed or the others I smell the same revolto smell that the DOG_FACED GUYS had like they're connected, you know but the doctors can't smell it they're in suits and neither can ed or parents, tho so much snot coming out that;s no big surprise. docs have machine that smells 4 them, it says e'thing okay when obiviously not. no one believes me.  
  
i think the virus from the dog-faces I REALLY HOPE you can see them you have to work it out I'M DEPENDING ON YOU.  
  
feds cut off net and phone I think afraid of big panic. this is from one of the docs palmtops which I STOLE and they'll figure it out real soon.  
  
i'm afraid  
  
Leaf hit "Send". It was done. Now she needed to figure out what to do with the palmtop. She really wanted to keep it, in case Allie, or Arthur try to contact her, but knew that the chances of that where slim. The palmtop would be found, and both of her friends would be smart enough not to contact her again. Because that would let the docs know she told someone about the flu, and the government didn't want that.   
  
That reminded Leaf that she better delete all the evidence of her, using the palmtop. It took the girl about two minutes, and when she was done, the clock on the screen shoved that it was exactly 6 AM.   
  
She had sat under the blanket for fifteen minutes or so now, and it started to get pretty hot. Leaf put the palmtop down, and was about to move when........ she heard footsteps.   
  
The girl froze. Her heart was beating like it would jump right out of her chest and onto the floor, but she sat absolutely still. Leaf knew, no matter what, the docs shouldn't find her.  
  
Only it didn't sound like docs at all. The footsteps were light, totally unlike the docs in their heavy biohazard suits.   
  
There was some other noise too. Like the sound of cloth dragging on the floor.   
  
And whoever it was, he or she was coming toward Leaf.   
  
i'm afraid.   
  
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There!!!! How do you like it??? Leave a review!  
  
Disclaimer- I did not invented Leaf, Allie or Arthur! They all belong to Garth Nix. Also the E-mail is taken from the book, word to word. So you can guess that the thing about the quarantine, and the palmtop, and Leaf's family being sick is not mine either.  
  
I will try to update soon. It will depend on how many reviews I get. (they cheer me up and make me keep going).   
  
Asha 


	2. Monday's Dawn

i'm afraid  
  
Leaf sat absolutely still, afraid to even breath, for that may move the blanked and reveal her to whoever was walking. She couldn't stop her heart from beating. And it seemed so loud, loud enough for the person in the room to hear it!!!!  
  
The footsteps grew closer. Leaf caught her breath. Then it seemed like the cloth was being dragged right by her..... and then whoever it was passed the armchairs and stopped in the middle of the room. The shadow fell on Leaf. It was a human (seconds before she was remembering plots of Ed's favorite horror movies, mad with panic). But it didn't seem to be a doc after all.   
  
The person stood still, and Leaf started to sort of calm down. It wasn't dad for sure (he'd come into the room singing) or Ed (he would turn the TV on immediately), but maybe it was just aunt Mango, or even mom, coming to tell her that they were feeling better after all!   
  
Yes, the girl was telling herself, that's it. It's aunt Mango. That thought gave her some encouragement, so she decided to take a peak. It had to be done carefully, in case it was a doc after all.   
  
So Leaf steadied her breathing a bit first. Then, using only one finger, she slowly lifted up a tiny fraction of the blanket.  
  
Next came a shock. A woman was standing in the middle of the room, but it wasn't aunt Mango or mom. It wasn't even anybody Leaf knew.  
  
The woman was pale, tall and slim, with a long, golden locks, framing her impossibly handsome face. She was dressed in a long, rose-colored summer dress- the kind that would have been very fashionable in Victorian era. The woman's beautiful face shoved annoyance and boredom. She tapped her pink fan against her left arm, then opened it and started to wave it gracefully.   
  
Leaf stared at her. This woman, whoever she was, could win any beauty contest in the world right now. She looked so fragile in the morning light- not dangerous at all. But still, Leaf fought the urge not to come out and introduce herself. Whoever this beauty was, she still was an intruder.   
  
The woman didn't seem no notice Leaf, or pay any attention to her surroundings at all. She sighted, shook her beautiful head in disappointment and then spoke softly.  
  
"Again. They don't know anything, but still send me to this Realm.". Her voice was musical and gentle, but with a hint of anger in it. Her tongue was golden. Leaf continued to stare, wishing she was just a bit like this woman.   
  
The woman sighed once more, closed the fan, and then clicked her fingers. Leaf nearly gasped, as she saw a phone appear out of nowhere. It seemed to belong to the same era as woman's dress, for Leaf had only seen something like that in a museum.   
  
However the intruder didn't seem to mind the ancient phone at all. She picked the handset up and dialed a number.  
  
"Operator? Yes, I need Mister Monday's office right now", she said in her beautiful voice.   
  
"Yes, right now. I'm Monday's Dawn"  
  
That seemed to have an immediate effect on the operator. Dawn was connected in a matter of seconds.  
  
"Mister Monday, sir?" she asked. A loud snore was an answer to her. She shook her head in disappointment, and tapped her fan against her hip. Then she dialed a number again.  
  
"Operator? Connect me to Monday's Noon at least...." That was done quickly. Then a voice, loud enough for Leaf to hear, answered Dawn. The voice sounded really British for some reason.  
  
"Yes, sister?"  
  
"May I ask again, what am I doing in here?"  
  
"Dusk just asked the same question. You are looking for that white-haired girl!"  
  
Leaf almost screamed. This woman....Dawn.... was really after her! Wait, she thought. Mister Monday, isn't he that person she'd seen? Right next to Arthur? Yes, he was, she was sure of it. Then this Dawn was connected to him, and to those smelly dog-faced guys she and Ed had seen. And the dog-faces where somehow connected to whatever sickness her family had caught. But then, Dawn.......  
  
The girl's thought's seemed to be messed up. She only remembered that Arthur was afraid of all of this. So she better be afraid of Monday's Dawn too.   
  
The conversation continued.  
  
"She's not here!"  
  
"Look for her. She might be hiding, or in a different room."  
  
"How could you send me here to look for her! What, I am suppose to use my Inspectors?"  
  
"No sister. If you really need to, you could call some Fetchers."   
  
"I still don't understand though, why we need her?"  
  
"Mister Monday's orders. The girl had seen what she shouldn't have seen, and knows what she shouldn't know."  
  
"Still, why don't we focus our attention on the Bearer of the Lesser Key? Arthur boy?"  
  
"I'll take care of that. You don't have much time. Follow Mister Monday's orders. Goodbye sister."  
  
"Goodbye, brother."  
  
Dawn hanged up the phone, and tapped the fan on her head. Then she hurriedly fixed her hair where it got messed up by the fan, and sighed for a hundredth time since she entered this room.  
  
With her bright, blue eyes she quickly and carelessly scanned the room, but still didn't seem to notice Leaf, who was so scared, she had stopped breathing again.   
  
Dawn smiled.   
  
"Come on Leaf..... Come out of wherever you are hiding! I won't hurt you..." she half-said, half-sang. When that got no result, she angrily opened her fan and started to wave it quickly. Then she looked around the room again, and started moving. Leaf understood where the weird sound had came from- Dawn's silk dress was so long, the end of it was dragging on the floor.   
  
Leaf had been holding her breath for last couple of moments, finally exhaled, thinking that Dawn was leaving the room.  
  
Then she froze. The sound was so loud, that Dawn stopped to. She moved back where she had been standing seconds ago. She looked at the room, and this time, her gaze had stopped on a blanket between two armchairs.   
  
"There you are...." she said, rather unkindly. Then, quick as a flash, huge, white, feathery wings exploded behind her, blocking all the light from the rising sun.   
  
The blanket was blown of Leaf, and the trembling girl was left in front of a woman, with huge wings that sheltered the room from all the light of the rising sun. Only Dawn had been glowing weirdly from the inside. Now she looked dangerous. Still beautiful. But dangerous.  
  
Dawn raised her hand, but Leaf didn't wait to see what she was doing. The girl screamed, and in a second crawled out of her hiding spot. Later, she would wonder how she managed to do it so quickly, but now she only wanted to run for her life.   
  
Leaf got on her feat, and run for the stairs.  
  
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There! Second chapter all done! I hope you like it. There will be a chapter three, I just don't know when yet. Probably I will write it sometime next week.   
  
Plz, leave a review to tell me what you think about all of this. Reviews always make me feel nice. 


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